Facebook Adds Garage Sale

Perhaps it was bound to happen. A new company is putting two popular ideas – social networking and online sales – together in a single package. Buy.com has developed its Garage Sale software that allows users to sell items directly from their social networking pages – and do it without the listing fee chargedby eBay. Additionally, there are promises of lower transaction fees and, of course, secure online payments. Currently Garage Sale is only available to people who use Facebook, but there are plans to expand it to other social networks in the very near future to take advantage of a burgeoning market. Users are able to buy goodsand complete transactions without ever leaving profile pages. For sellers, the software is part of Facebook’s application suite. According to Buy.com, Garage Sale uses e-commerce technologythat it bought from Shoperion Inc. earlier this year. “Garage Sale allows consumers to become personal online retailers using the backing of amajor Internet company like Buy.com,” said Neel Grover, CEO and president of Buy.com, in a statement.